BMW E46 European Aspherical Mirror doityourself

[E_Rak]

I bought my aspherical mirrors from the same guy on ebay in late summer of 2015 (BP helped me smuggle those in to winter wonderland during his visit).

The driver's side has held up no issues. The passenger side has developed large brown spots due to heat/moisture or whatever reason. It started from the sides and then spread towards the center of the mirror just like the picture posted here by another member. This led me to believe that it might be moisture seeping in...but it seems BP has a different (and probably correct) theory.

Rus mentioned most of them fail due to a bad seal between the glass itself and the reflective coating. Water seeps in and reacts with the blue tint, causing it to rust. In removing my old mirrors, one piece of glass came completely detached from its backing, and the other was starting to come up. He mentioned that heating had nothing to do with it - glass without the blue tint does not rust. I figure if this pair from the new batch goes bad, I can have them replace again, and this time they will not be heated!

[az3579]

Rus mentioned most of them fail due to a bad seal between the glass itself and the reflective coating. Water seeps in and reacts with the blue tint, causing it to rust. In removing my old mirrors, one piece of glass came completely detached from its backing, and the other was starting to come up. He mentioned that heating had nothing to do with it - glass without the blue tint does not rust. I figure if this pair from the new batch goes bad, I can have them replace again, and this time they will not be heated!

Interesting. The seal on my glass looks fine; I don't see how water is getting in there. I wonder how it happens...

Also, my rust spots are on the bottom, so if water was getting in, it would have to travel upwards to create those kinds of rust spots.

Here's a couple of pics:







You know, looking at these pics... I do realize that all that salt may be contributing to this. Salt seems to get EVERYWHERE, and with the water, it is helped with travel. Hmm...

[anandoc]

Also, my rust spots are on the bottom, so if water was getting in, it would have to travel upwards to create those kinds of rust spots.

You know, looking at these pics... I do realize that all that salt may be contributing to this. Salt seems to get EVERYWHERE, and with the water, it is helped with travel. Hmm...

Water is not 'travelling upwards' so to say. Moisture seems to be getting in between the glass and the reflective coating and the coating then starts to rust every which way possible, including upwards. Its akin to a metallic door panel starting to rust from the bottom and then the rust spreads upwards.

Yes, I think salt might also contribute to the rusting just like how it speeds up rusting metallic on parts in our cars.

[Sockethead]

The two I got from Charlie are doing the same thing but haven't gotten any since I rarely drive it in the rain and it hasn't been in snow since 2008